Fire-escape



(No Model.)

T. B. WOODWARD.

FIRE ESCAPE.

N0. 349,870. Patented Sept. 28, 1886.

NiTn STATES ZATENT Fries.

THEODORE B. XVOODlVARD, OF NORXVAY, PENNSYLVANIA.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,870, dated September 28, 1886.

Application filed March 27, 1880. Serial No. 196,853. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THEODORE B. W001)- WARD, a citizen of the United States, resid ing at Norway, in the county of Chester and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of devices whereby persons and merchandise may be taken from the windows of burning houses and be lowered in safety to the ground; and

'its object is to adapt an elevator car and an elevator-Windlass to be kept at any convenient point away from the buildings on which it is to be used; to adapt a carrier on one or more houses to operate in conjunction with the said car and Windlass, and to adapt an anchoring device opposite to each of such houses,whereby the Windlass may be firmly secured without loss of time.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming a fire-escape, hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a portion of a house in front elevation, with one view of my fire-escape in front elevation and another view thereof in side elevation at the side of same house. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the car. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the carrier, and Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section of the same.

A represents a housefront. B represents a pair of iron rails secured at the top edge thereof, and extending along the front of one house or of a block of houses, and serving as a track upon which the carrier 0 may travel and stop for service over any tier of windows D.

O O are two grooved wheels running between and astrideof the rails B, and journaled in the frame of the carrier.

E represents a cord attached at its ends to the ends of the carrier and passing over two pulleys, E, at the ends of the track, and thence down by two vertical tiers of windows around pulleys E thence along the house to pulleys E and up by another tier of windows, thence along the house again, and so on, the said cord E being thus brought within reach of every front window in the house, whereby a person in danger at any window may, by working the cord one way or the other, as required, draw the carrier 0 to a point over his head.

F is a roller or spool journaled in the carrier, and provided with a fixed collar or partition, F.

G represents a pair of guide-wires, to be wound on the spool F when not in service.

G is a returning wire or cord wound upon the spool F in the direction opposite to the wires G, and its bight Gr hangs within reach of a person on the ground,while its other end is attached to both of the wires G when they are drawn up out of service, whereby they may be drawn down to be attached to the winch.

J represents another spool journaled in the carrier 0. K Krepresent two wires wound in opposite directions on the two ends of this spool .T. r

L represents a double winch or Windlass, having an iron shaft, L, squared along its lower portion to fit vertically into a socket, L one of which is firmly anchored in the ground at a convenient operating-point opposite each house to be protected.

N represents the spool of the upper windlass, provided with a hand-lever, N, by which it may be turned, and with a pawl and ratchet, N to hold it set at any desired point.

M is a collar fixed on the shaft L, to support the said pawl, and to support pulleys M and M in brackets, and the hangers M, in which a crank-shaft, O, is journaled.

O is a beveled gear-wheel secured on shaft 0 and engaging the beveled gear-wheel on the double spool P, which is journaled on the vertical shaft L.

P represents a pawl and ratchet adapted to hold the spool P from being unwound in one direction, and P P are pulleys journaled in a bracket supported on a collar, Q, of the shaft L.

It is the escape-car, made of sheet mctal,a-nd provided with sides and a roof to protect the occupants from flames, smoke, and falling dewire G, they are inserted through eyes S*in" the bail S, then passed under the pulleys M and M and wound upon the spool N until all the wire is drawn off from spool F and the wires are both made taut. Then the spool N'is" made fast by the pawl and ratchet N and the wiresGwill serve as a guide to the car. The wireK is to be attached to the upper end of the bail S. T is awire which is kept wound on the spool, 1? when not in use. This wire is to be passed under the pulley P and be engaged with the lower end of the bail S. The wire K is then to be passed under the pulley P and be en-. gaged with the spool P. Now, by revolving the crank-shaft O in one direction the wire Kwill be wound upon the spool P, revolving the upper spool, J, in the direction" to wind up the wire K, thereby raising the car while the wire T is paid off from the side of spool]? opposite to wire K. The car is lowered by the reverse motion of the crank-shaft O, and in both cases the wires G serve as guides to the car.

When it is desired to send the car to any particular story, it should first be raised to about the right height, and then the guidewires G should be gradually let off from spool N, allowing the car to swing to the window desired. Now, if a number of trips are to be made'to this window, the guide-wires G are to be secured at this window as follows: In the side casings of each window I provide permanent loops or eyebolts a, and the car carries one or more loose cross-bars, I), having hooks at their ends adapted to engage the said eyes."-

One of these bars being placed'across over the guide-wires and the elevating-wire and secured in a pair of the said eyes, the guide wires should then be strained tightly by the windlass-spool N to give stability to the motion of the car. Of course the car, when loaded, would descend by gravity, drawing off from the spool P the wire K and winding on the wire T.

To regulate the descent of the car, I provide a common friction-brake, c, to be pressed on the spool P by the windlass operator; but, in order that the passenger may have some con trol over the car, I provide a pair of frictionbrakes, d d, with loops at their ends to run on the guide-wires, and secured at their upper ends close together to the bail S. V

e is a loop inclosing the bodies of brakes d, and attached to a yoke having side bars passing up through the bail S and a cross-bar, h, joining them.

f is a lever pivoted to the inner side of the car, and provided with a connection, 9, shaped at its lower end in an are, t, of a circle concentric with the car-pivot, so that it may bear on the cross-bar h in any position of the car. The passenger, by working the lever f, may press the arc 13 of the connection 9 upon the cross-bar h; thereby crowding the loop 6 upon the brakes,whose bracing position causes them to be thereby drawn toward each other, thus bearing upon the guide-wires and serving to check the descent of the car. To insure the effectiveness of this brake, I provide bearings j of the bail close to the brakes, so that the guide-wires may be bent short by the brakes.

k is an arc inthe side of the car concentric with the car-pivot.

Zis a set-screw in the bail S, and fitted to engage the said arc, whereby the car may be fixed at any desired angle at which a great many trips are to be made, to'steady the car. This isparticularly useful when the car is used as an elevator for building purposes. According to this plan'one car and one windlass may serve a whole village or a whole square in a city, each house to be protected having only to furnish its rails, carrier, and an vanchorsocket for the windlass. \Vhere houses are built in blocks, one line of tracks and one car-- rier will serve the whole.

A moments inspection of the device will show any person how the parts may be restored to place when'not in service.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

pair of rails secured one above theother and parallel therewith along the edge of the roof of a house, a carrier mounted on two groovededged wheels between the said rails, spools journaled in the said carrier to receive wires or ropes, -a system of pulleysattached to the house nearthe window thereof and at theends of the said rails, and awire or cord passing around thesaid system at its ends to theends of the said carrier, substantially as shown and described, for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of two rails secured along the edge of the roof :of a house, a carrier mounted between the. said rails on wheels, two double spools journaled in the said carrier, a pair of wires wound upon one of the said spools side by side, and means for securing the same to the ground, an elevator-car mounted onthe in opposite directions upon the other spool of the carrier, the first of which is secured to the top of the car and the second to a windlass on with a double spool and a wire wound thereon in the direction opposite to the said second wire and connected with the lower end of the car, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination of awinchor windlass having a vertical shaft squared along its lower end and spools journaled on the upper portion of said shaft, a socketburied vertically in 1. The combination, in a fire-escape, of a said pair of wires, another pair of wires wound the ground, the said windlass being provided the ground and fitted to receive the square portion of the said shaft, a spool or pulley mounted on a house opposite to the socket, and connecting-wires, substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination,in afire-escape,of a shaft adapted to be fixed vertically in the ground, two collars fixed on the said shaft, a double spool journaled on the shaft between the collars, and provided with a beveled gear-wheel at one end and a ratchet-wheel at the. other end, a crank-shaft journaled horizontally in brackets of one of the collars, and a beveled gear-wheel thereon engaging the aforesaid beveled gear-wheel, a double spool journaled on the said vertical shaft above the upper collar, and provided with lever-arms and with a ratchet-wheel, and pawls pivoted to the two collars to engage the two ratchet-wheels, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination of a fire-escape car, a bail in which the same is pivoted above its center of gravity, wires secured to the house and to the ground and passing through eyes along the sides of the bail, wires secured to the upper and lower ends of the bail, and spools for the same, substantially as shown and described, whereby the car may be guided on the first wires and raised or lowered by the second wires, as specified.

6. The combination, in a fire escape,- of means for attaching wires at the edge of the roof of a house, a windlass secured on the ground at some distance from the house, eyes or loops secured at thesides of windows in the house, and a cross bar having ends adapted to e11- their upper ends being secured to the said bail nearer together than their lower ends, a loop inclosing the slanting bodies of the said brakes and secured to play vertically through the said bail by means of side bars and a crossbar joining them, a hand lever pivoted within the car, and a link or connection attached to the lever and passing down through the bottom of the car, and provided with a circular arc concentric with the pivot of the car, to engage the said crossbar, substantially as shown and described.

8. The combination, in a fire escape, of a bail, a car pivoted above its center of gravity in the bail, and provided with a grooved arc in its side concentric with its pivot, and a setscrew mounted in'an arm of the bail in position to engage the said are, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THEODORE B. \VOODWARD.

\Vitnesscs:

WM. W. PRITCIIETT, HARVEY B. VANDEGRIFT. 

